Anti-GMO ecology activists reject BBC’s Panorama portraying them as ‘fear mongers’

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The pro-GM bias of the BBC was plain to see during Monday’s (8th June) Panorama programme ‘GM Food – Cultivating Fear‘.

Blinkered and narrow rather than panoramic, selective and prejudicial rather than investigative, this sorry display set a new low for a programme which was once a flagship of investigative journalism.

It had no more veracity and insight than the most clichéd corporate press release.

The result was that a mix of myths, deceptive assertions and inaccurate statements by pro-GM lobbyists – including those masquerading as independent scientists – were given a free ride and promotional slot on prime time television.

It’s tempting to say that you couldn’t make this stuff up – except Panorama has proven with its latest fiction that actually you can – and that you can even get the BBC (and thus the licence fee payer) to pay for it.

The same old story

Anybody who has followed the GMO story over the last two decades will already know the playbook: GMOs will benefit small farmers, GMOs will cut pesticide use, genetic modification is a ‘benign’ and’ neutral’ technology and there is no evidence that it harms human health.

The programme did not address the widespread and successful non-GM approaches to sustainable farming. The perspective that GM technology could possibly be unnecessary, as well as risky, was beyond the vision of the production team.

Instead the three-note tune that throughout the excruciating 30 minutes of the programme was: we need to feed the world, therefore we need GM, and it’s immoral to oppose it. All three notes are false and do not accord to the evidence.

What’s more, this now familiar tune is deeply disrespectful to the millions of people who care passionately about changing the way our food and farming system works to ensure we do feed people sustainably and equitably.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Investigation or advocacy? The BBC reveals its pro-GMO bias

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